True austerity means controlling the senses for Krishna consciousness, not pursuing temporary material gains that end with the body.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.48 — June 14, 1973, Māyāpur 730614SB-MAYAPUR [36:07 Minutes] SB-01.09.48_730614SB-MAYAPUR Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] tato yudhiṣṭhiro gatvā saha-kṛṣṇo gajāhvayam pitaraṁ sāntvayām āsa gāndhārīṁ ca tapasvinīm [SB 1.9.48] [break] [02:30]
Prabhupāda: [indistinct] ...this class, when it is held in Los Angeles, this full hall would have been compact. This is the difference between India and foreign countries. They are receiving this message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness very seriously. Here they are rejecting.
The Indians, they're rejecting. There is a proverb: āpanār dhana bilāye diye bhikṣā māge parer khache[?]. They have lost their own culture, and they are now beggars. They are going to beg from door to door in the foreign countries.
When I was speaking in Berkeley University sometimes in the year 1966, one Indian student stood up, and he said, "Swāmījī, what this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will do? We require now technology." So I replied, "Yes. You are after technology. So you are a beggar.
I am not a beggar. I have come here to give something. That is the difference. I have come here to give some culture, and you have come to imitate the Western civilization by technology.
That is the difference. You'll remain a beggar, I shall remain a giver. That is the difference." So still I am maintaining that position of giving, not taking. Before me, so many svāmījīs went there.
They did not give, but they took something and came here and advertised themselves as foreign-returned sannyāsī and exploited the people. They lost even their original dress. Everyone knows, I have never changed my dress. Rather, I have given the dress to the foreigners, and they have taken it.